Utah Jazz Notes

Here are coach Jerry Sloan's answers to three major questions after Sacramento's 104-99 win Saturday night at EnergySolutions Arena:

Did the Jazz's dull effort against Sacramento surprise him, in the wake of their energetic win over San Antonio on Thursday night?

"It surprised me. You have to give that team credit,  but I thought we'd come with a lot more energy. We had energy for a little bit and it looked like we were going to be in pretty good shape. Then all of a sudden we started taking [bad] shots and not executing our offense. Pretty soon they put some guys out there we didn't defend very well and they made some shots and got themselves going and had confidence and got back in the ball game. And you could see it building on them because their energy level picked up a lot in the second quarter."

What happened in the third quarter, when the Kings scored 19 straight while turning a 60-55 deficit into a 74-60 lead?

"We weren't guarding anybody. And it looked like we were pouting a little bit here and there because things didn't go our way. And we didn't have energy. That's why I moved some guys around. But we didn't seem to come up with any answers. ... We can't play one quarter and take one quarter off."

Why were the Jazz so ineffective against Sacramento's zone defense, which coach Paul Westphal employed after Utah built a 39-24 lead early in the second quarter?

"We couldn't make shots. When you play against a zone you have to make shots ... [And] some of the time we weren't really executing what we do against a zone. There were two or three times when they first put the zone on that we didn't see the guy open in the middle of the lane. We swung the basketball a little quick ... Their confidence level built up a little higher and we lost confidence in our ability to make shots."

-- Steve Luhm